Feijóo calls NATO's denial in Sánchez an "international ridicule."

MadridSpanish President Pedro Sánchez surprised on Sunday with a public letter He claimed to have an agreement with NATO to avoid having to reach 5% of GDP in military spending. Specifically, he said that the pact required Spain, exceptionally, to reach only 2.1%. However, the announcement—which helped Moncloa, for a few hours, shift the framework of the debate on the entire Cerdán issue to the discussion on military spending—was very short-lived: yesterday, Monday, the Secretary General of the Atlantic Alliance, Mark Rutte, He said that Spain had to arrive, like the rest of the countries, at least 3.5% of hardened weapons. Opposition leader and PP leader Alberto Nuñez Feijóo has taken advantage of the controversy to attack the Spanish government: "It's an international embarrassment."

In the framework of his intervention in the forum of theAbc, reported by Efe, Feijóo stated: "The denial yesterday by the NATO Secretary General is one of the biggest international blunders in foreign and defense policy that Spain has ever committed." In fact, Pedro Sánchez's position marks the summit that begins this Tuesday in The Hague, where the Spanish president is accompanied by the Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, and the Defense Minister, Margarita Robles, and which will receive a visit from the US President, Donald Trump, tomorrow, Wednesday.

For Feijóo, Sánchez should not be representing Spain at the summit if Rutte's denial of his claims is confirmed. "He should not return as president of the Spanish government," he stated categorically. According to the PP leader, if the pact announced Sunday is not true, it means that Sánchez has "lied" to both allied countries and to the Spanish people to divert attention—the PP leader said—from "national" problems, referring to the legal cases affecting his entourage. "An agreement was invented that didn't even last 24 hours," he declared.

Be that as it may, the Spanish government maintains its position. Following Rutte's remarks, this Monday sources from the Moncloa (Spanish National Council) reported by Efe that they reaffirmed their commitment to not spending more than 2.1% and that time will prove sufficient to overcome NATO's doubts. In fact, in recent hours, both Sánchez and former Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero expressed their satisfaction with the pact. Zapatero, in the context of the 20th anniversary of same-sex marriage, went so far as to say that thanks to it, Spaniards will have "dignity" and social rights in the future, as it will mean not having to make cuts or raise taxes, according to the PSOE, due to military spending.